The invention relates to a holding device for holding at least one optical plug that can be coupled with a coupling partner in an optical coupling system.
It is known to couple an optical plug, having a plurality of light waveguides arranged parallel to one another, with a coupling partner, with the aid of a holding device. Coupling partners are for example optical transmission and/or reception modules that are arranged on a circuit board, or, rather, optical ports/plug receivers formed on said modules.
With the use of high transmission frequencies in the Gbit/s range, it is thereby standard to arrange an optical transmission module and an optical reception module next to one another on a circuit board. These modules situated closely alongside one another have completely separate manners of functioning, and are also situated in different housings, in order to ensure a mutual shielding and to avoid cross-talk. Correspondingly, the optical connections to each module are created through separate plugs.
For functional reasons and for reasons of safety, it is desirable to couple or, respectively, decouple the two optical plugs for the two modules with, or from, the respective coupling partner at the same time. For this purpose, from EP-A1-0 807 837 it is known to arrange the two optical plugs in one holding device. However, the problem thereby arises that the modules (transmission and reception module) situated in a fixed manner on the circuit board do indeed have a definite, relatively precisely defined spacing from one another, but this spacing however naturally possesses a tolerance that is high in comparison with the precision that is required (a few m) for the coupling of the light waveguides of an optical plug with the light waveguides of the coupling partner. In this way, there arises the risk that the coupling partners cannot be coupled with one another with the required precision, or that tensions will occur in the system, caused by different spacings of the plugs in the holding device and of the modules on the circuit board.
Accordingly, the invention is based on the object of providing a holding device, for holding at least one optical plug, that reliably enables a coupling of an optical plug with a coupling partner even for the case in which the coupling partner is subject to tolerances in its position.
According thereto, it is inventively provided that the holding device comprises an inner holding part into which the plug can be locked and an outer holding part in which the inner holding part is situated so as to be rotatable and laterally displaceable. A coupling of the plug or plugs with a coupling partner thereby takes place in that an operator grasps the outer holding part, with the plug or plugs situated therein, and moves it in the direction of the coupling partner until the coupling partners lock with one another in a known manner.
Due to the circumstance that the inner holding part is arranged in the outer holding part so as to be rotatable and laterally displaceable, the inventive holding device thereby provides a tolerance compensation in relation to a coupling partner that is arranged with a positional tolerance. In this way, a lateral offset of the coupling partner can be compensated by the lateral displaceability of the inner holding part in the outer holding part, and an angular offset of the coupling partner can be compensated by the rotatability of the inner holding part in the outer holding part.
Due to the inherent high precision of the coupling system, as a rule it is sufficient to provide a relatively small rotatability, of a maximum of a few degrees, and a relatively small lateral displaceability, of a maximum of one millimeter.
In a preferred construction of the invention, the outer holding part comprises at least one elongated hole in which a bearing pin of the inner holding part engages. The elongated hole thereby provides both a rotatability of the inner holding part and also a lateral displaceability of the inner holding part in relation to the outer holding part. The elongated hole thereby preferably extends transverse to the plug-in direction of a plug.
In the preferred construction of the invention, the holding device holds at least two plugs, each of which is fixed in an inner holding part, whereby the outer holding part is fashioned in one piece and with receive openings for receiving a respective inner holding part, and whereby each inner holding part is arranged in the respective receive opening of the outer holding part so as to be rotatable and laterally displaceable. This construction provides in particular a duplex holding device that receives two plugs, for example for coupling an optical transmission module and an optical reception module arranged at a defined distance therefrom. Due to the rotatability and lateral displaceability of the inner holding part in the outer holding part, the two plugs can pivot and/or move laterally in the holding device in order to compensate a positional tolerance of the two coupling partners.
The outer holding part is thereby preferably fashioned in such a way that the individual receive openings are separated from one another by a partition wall. In addition, the outer holding part is preferably provided on its outside with a ribbing, in order to enable it to be grasped better and more securely.
The inner holding part preferably comprises a locking element that works together with complementary structures of the plug in order to lock an optical plug in or out. The optical plug is thereby arranged in the inner holding part essentially without play. A compensation of positional tolerances of the coupling partner takes place via the inventive arrangement of the inner holding part in the outer holding part.
The locking element of the inner holding part comprises for example a locking clip that, when an optical plug is introduced into the inner holding part, comes to rest on a stop of the plug.
It is thereby preferably provided that the outer holding part comprise at least one opening via which, using a tool, the locking element of the inner holding part can be actuated from the outside, thereby enabling the unlocking of a plug that is fixed in the inner holding part. In this way, a simple unlocking and removal of an optical plug from the inner holding part is enabled.
In the following, the invention is explained in more detail on the basis of an exemplary embodiment, with reference to the figures of the drawings.